I am writing this eight hours after the results of the Republican primary were announced in the state of Nebraska. Not only did I support Theresa Thibodeau for the next governor, but she also asked me to be her running mate as lieutenant governor. That was the level of commitment that my family put into getting the one person in office that we thought was best qualified to be the next governor. However, our team finished fourth with 6.2% of the vote.
I met new friends and old ones on the campaign trail. Let’s go through some numbers that I find very interesting.
The three candidates who finished in front spent collectively in excess of $30 million. That does not include political action committee money that was spent on behalf of the candidates; it is simply the amount that public records indicate they spent. Thibodeau spent $300,000 without any outside PAC money. The $30 million spent by the top 3 vote getters received 228,000 votes and Thibodeau received about 16,000 votes. The top three spent $8 per vote and while Thibodeau spent $.05 per vote. That was the campaign promoted on the trail: “Curb taxes and cut government spending.” My question remains: Will that just be a pipe dream or will we finally make it happen?
It is no secret this was a very negative campaign, with the exception of what we tried to accomplish. Bridges have been burned that will never be rebuilt, thanks in part to social media. Most of the money spent was explaining why someone else should not be the next governor.
We have a tax and spend problem in the state. We have concerns about our educational system. Nebraska is the breadbasket of the nation in food production and the immediate need for the next governor is to protect property rights, stop federal overreach and stop the welfare system that is removing people from the workforce daily.
In the past 15 months the food infrastructure has been crippled immensely. While farmers are struggling against Mother Nature to get the next crop planted, there is more uncertainty about what the market infrastructure will be at harvest time. We know that nearly 40 million birds, turkeys and chickens have been euthanized. We now hear of major disruptions in the pork side of the business as high feed prices, PRRS and severe labor shortages are beginning to take a very serious toil.
My friend Hank Volger said it best recently on Rural Route Radio. “The need is now to stand up for We the People to prevent us from becoming We the Peasants!”
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
